Inspiring Women

Valentine’s day is like chocolate or wine. When you know you can’t quite reach it you want it more. During my secondary school years, my school, which was an all-girls school (state school before any of you make any assumptions) would partner in a money-making enterprise with the nearby boy’s school. We could buy roses [...]

Baby Bear is now twenty-four weeks old and apparently about a foot long. A foot long already? And I still have another 16 weeks to go. How big is this thing going to get? How does it fit? I don’t really want my belly to get any bigger – well maybe just a little bit [...]

So, the big question this week – did I go swimming on my own? The answer is no, but I did go. At the age of 39 (really 29 if we follow last week’s logic) I made my Mum go with me and I smashed it. 20 lengths of granny breaststroke; though I do think [...]

So, I have now been demoted. I am no longer a high-risk pregnancy, I have not got younger or lighter but it seems that the risk boundaries have changed. So, I am low risk; low risk of what? Having a baby? Not having a baby? I have no idea, but it means that I don’t [...]

So, I only went and did it! I, Catherine, went swimming. I went to my local leisure centre, I put a swimming costume on and I actually paid my own money to get in a very large tank of water and swim. I was anxious but with the support of my friend it was actually [...]

On 4th January 2016 I posted a blog on Inspiring Women, I listed my New Years Resolutions. Today, two years on it is the first time I have looked back on them. Such is the ineffectiveness of New Year’s Resolutions for the majority of us who chose to make them. I listed 8 resolutions [...]

Depending on which of the multitude of baby websites you wish to read Baby Bear, at 17 weeks, is now about as big as a Turnip or Pomegranate or Avocado. I guess the lesson is that every growing baby is different, as is every mum to be, as is every piece of fruit or vegetable. [...]

So, Baby Bear’s heartbeat sounds like a fast-moving train! We listened to this during our midwife visit this week. J was smiling, I was smiling. I was smiling because J was smiling, he says he was smiling because I was smiling. So, which one of us smiled first? And was it because there were actually [...]

Now at week 15 and 3 days how am I feeling? This morning I feel horrifically hungover, my head is muzzy and feels like it is constructed of cotton wool, I feel lacking in energy, I just want to go back to bed but I need to clean the bathroom and vacuum the carpet and [...]

So, we reach week 2 in my weekly blog world and week 14 of my pregnant world. In an ode to Bridget Jones my week in numbers are as follows: Alcohol units: 0.0001 Calories: 0 – they don’t count in pregnancy surely? Number of slices of bread eaten: Approx. 77 Number of times I have [...]